Week three of my short story, working under the temporary (terrible) title, "A Fold in the Rift." Hoping to wrap this up by next week, then start doing the editing process. Must resist urge to write 100,000 words...
"You'll never guess," Zeke said smugly.
"Hold on, hold on," Tyrin said. Zeke could easily imagine Tyrin pulling back from his game to poke and prod at Zeke's console setup, trying to find out what had happened. "Your throughput jacked like 500%!"
"That's what happens when you score a TR two-two-one," Zeke nearly exploded as he spilled the news to his friend.
"No way you got a Temporal Rift," Tyrin scoffed. "There's an injunction against them. Besides, it's practically stolen military tech."
"So?" Zeke said, offended.
"So it's dangerous," his friend replied. "I don't think you have one."
"You just can't handle that this is going to bump me over the top," Zeke said. "I'll be pro after this. You're jealous."
"If I believed you had one, which I don't," Tyrin said, "then I might be the tiniest bit jealous. Not enough to override my fear, though."
"Quit holding me back, man," Zeke said. Then, "I don't have time to argue in a fucking VR field. Let's switch matches so I can show you."
"Fine," Tyrin relented with a sigh. "Pick a new server and let's go."
Zeke stepped out of the match, his vision pulling away from the stunning map as if he was peeling his nose away from a display it had been mashed against, only instead of the real world filling his vision, he found himself in his virtual console, icons and words floating before him. He reached up a hand and flicked through several servers, finally coming to one that caught his eye.
"Tyrin, I'm joining a new server now," Zeke announced.
A falling sensation overcame him as he plunged back into the game world, a new map loading and replacing the one he was previously on. He flashed into existence in the middle of downtown Tokyo, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid burning in the bay. Zeke could actually smell the roiling smoke, which stung his nostrils and made him cough aloud. A moment later Tyrin materialized next to him. Zeke deployed into the game with the same assault kit, convinced it would give him the firepower he would need. Tyrin's soldier switched over to an engineer kit, equipped with micro-UAVs, mines, and equipment useful for hacking military networks.
"Zeke, tell me you didn't pick a tier two server," he said incredulously.
"The match starts in thirty seconds," Zeke said coolly. "You going to cry about it, or are you going to back me up so I can break into the tier one groups?"
"Fine," Tyrin grumbled. "Just don't blame me when you wreck your score and get bounced back to tier five."
"Not going to happen, man. I'm invincible," Zeke said, watching the game timer count down to the start of the match.
"I hope you know most of the guys in here are stimmed to the gills," Tyrin said.
Zeke didn't answer. Instead he saw the timer hit 00:00, then he exploded forward, taking off in a sprint towards Tokyo Tower, but having no intention of remaining on the ground for long.
"Where are you going?" Tyrin shouted from behind him, trying to keep up.
"Have to get behind their lines and flank 'em before they can dig in," Zeke said, his mind split between navigating the city and watching the map that floated in his HUD, red enemy markers already being flagged by the attack tiltrotors that now when blasting overhead, their shadows flitting from building to building.
The sun was setting before him, already low on the horizon, making it seem as if the skyscrapers before him were on fire, which many of them actually were. In the first sixty seconds of the match, both teams had already launched air assaults, missiles, cannons, and directed energy weapons knocking vehicles out of the sky even while cutting gouges in buildings, flaming debris raining down to the ground to be stamped out by the boots of the infantry that moved forward, backed up in the middle by columns of armor. It was digital warfare, but the emotions were real. Kill or be killed. Survive. Win.
Zeke and Tyrin were tiny cogs inside a large machine, but in order to advance in the game they would need to stand out, scoring more than the remaining 90% of the players to secure a pass to a tier one server and opening the gates to professional gaming contracts with major clans and corporations. Zeke could almost smell the sponsorship deals, so close was he to breaking out from his bleak life. Drive by desperation, he charged on, fully intending to emerge victorious, or else to die in the attempt.
Neon lights from hanging signs, each one several stories tall, were reflected in puddles of water on the moist asphalt, rain clouds still looming over the grim totems that rose up into the sky. Zeke's boots splashed through the standing water, turning the reflection into a rainbow kaleidoscope of commerce, karaoke, and pornography. Up ahead he heard armor exchanging fire, the ground rumbling beneath his feet as IFVs and MBTs maneuvered in their own conflict. Seeing an opportunity, he cut down a narrow alley, working his way through a labyrinth of izakaya, the low hanging lanterns brushing against his inflated shoulders as he kept up his manic pace. He had already outstripped the other infantry forces, only Tyrin doggedly remaining with him, following his trail as best he could.
He emerged in a pedestrian square lit almost entirely by a fifty story holoprojector that faithfully disgorged advertisement after advertisement. Though Tokyo was supposedly at war, the game designers had found that interest in the level dropped to nothing if they turned off all the tiny lights that made people interested in the city to begin with. Tokyo without electricity was just a collection of concrete, holding no more interest to anyone than the next pile of rocks. Crossing the square, Zeke entered the building itself, Tyrin catching up to him.
"We're way out of position," he said.
"Relax," Zeke countered. "I know what I'm doing. And keep quiet, you'll give away our position."
Swiftly climbing the stairs, his soldier unable to tire, Zeke emerged on the roof of the structure, giving him a view directly across the maglev line and the skyscrapers opposite his position. Below, tanks and walkers exchanged fire in the streets while a pair of fighter aircraft tangled in the sky above. The constant drone of ordinance spread over the city, bouncing off the glass, steel, and concrete, a symphony of destruction. Moving to the edge of the building, Zeke rested the handguard of his rifle on the concrete lip, getting his eyes down behind the optic.
"Now what?" Tyrin asked in his ear.
"Now we kill everything before us," Zeke said.
A.C. Harrison
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"You'll never guess," Zeke said smugly.
"Hold on, hold on," Tyrin said. Zeke could easily imagine Tyrin pulling back from his game to poke and prod at Zeke's console setup, trying to find out what had happened. "Your throughput jacked like 500%!"
"That's what happens when you score a TR two-two-one," Zeke nearly exploded as he spilled the news to his friend.
"No way you got a Temporal Rift," Tyrin scoffed. "There's an injunction against them. Besides, it's practically stolen military tech."
"So?" Zeke said, offended.
"So it's dangerous," his friend replied. "I don't think you have one."
"You just can't handle that this is going to bump me over the top," Zeke said. "I'll be pro after this. You're jealous."
"If I believed you had one, which I don't," Tyrin said, "then I might be the tiniest bit jealous. Not enough to override my fear, though."
"Quit holding me back, man," Zeke said. Then, "I don't have time to argue in a fucking VR field. Let's switch matches so I can show you."
"Fine," Tyrin relented with a sigh. "Pick a new server and let's go."
Zeke stepped out of the match, his vision pulling away from the stunning map as if he was peeling his nose away from a display it had been mashed against, only instead of the real world filling his vision, he found himself in his virtual console, icons and words floating before him. He reached up a hand and flicked through several servers, finally coming to one that caught his eye.
"Tyrin, I'm joining a new server now," Zeke announced.
A falling sensation overcame him as he plunged back into the game world, a new map loading and replacing the one he was previously on. He flashed into existence in the middle of downtown Tokyo, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid burning in the bay. Zeke could actually smell the roiling smoke, which stung his nostrils and made him cough aloud. A moment later Tyrin materialized next to him. Zeke deployed into the game with the same assault kit, convinced it would give him the firepower he would need. Tyrin's soldier switched over to an engineer kit, equipped with micro-UAVs, mines, and equipment useful for hacking military networks.
"Zeke, tell me you didn't pick a tier two server," he said incredulously.
"The match starts in thirty seconds," Zeke said coolly. "You going to cry about it, or are you going to back me up so I can break into the tier one groups?"
"Fine," Tyrin grumbled. "Just don't blame me when you wreck your score and get bounced back to tier five."
"Not going to happen, man. I'm invincible," Zeke said, watching the game timer count down to the start of the match.
"I hope you know most of the guys in here are stimmed to the gills," Tyrin said.
Zeke didn't answer. Instead he saw the timer hit 00:00, then he exploded forward, taking off in a sprint towards Tokyo Tower, but having no intention of remaining on the ground for long.
"Where are you going?" Tyrin shouted from behind him, trying to keep up.
"Have to get behind their lines and flank 'em before they can dig in," Zeke said, his mind split between navigating the city and watching the map that floated in his HUD, red enemy markers already being flagged by the attack tiltrotors that now when blasting overhead, their shadows flitting from building to building.
The sun was setting before him, already low on the horizon, making it seem as if the skyscrapers before him were on fire, which many of them actually were. In the first sixty seconds of the match, both teams had already launched air assaults, missiles, cannons, and directed energy weapons knocking vehicles out of the sky even while cutting gouges in buildings, flaming debris raining down to the ground to be stamped out by the boots of the infantry that moved forward, backed up in the middle by columns of armor. It was digital warfare, but the emotions were real. Kill or be killed. Survive. Win.
Zeke and Tyrin were tiny cogs inside a large machine, but in order to advance in the game they would need to stand out, scoring more than the remaining 90% of the players to secure a pass to a tier one server and opening the gates to professional gaming contracts with major clans and corporations. Zeke could almost smell the sponsorship deals, so close was he to breaking out from his bleak life. Drive by desperation, he charged on, fully intending to emerge victorious, or else to die in the attempt.
Neon lights from hanging signs, each one several stories tall, were reflected in puddles of water on the moist asphalt, rain clouds still looming over the grim totems that rose up into the sky. Zeke's boots splashed through the standing water, turning the reflection into a rainbow kaleidoscope of commerce, karaoke, and pornography. Up ahead he heard armor exchanging fire, the ground rumbling beneath his feet as IFVs and MBTs maneuvered in their own conflict. Seeing an opportunity, he cut down a narrow alley, working his way through a labyrinth of izakaya, the low hanging lanterns brushing against his inflated shoulders as he kept up his manic pace. He had already outstripped the other infantry forces, only Tyrin doggedly remaining with him, following his trail as best he could.
He emerged in a pedestrian square lit almost entirely by a fifty story holoprojector that faithfully disgorged advertisement after advertisement. Though Tokyo was supposedly at war, the game designers had found that interest in the level dropped to nothing if they turned off all the tiny lights that made people interested in the city to begin with. Tokyo without electricity was just a collection of concrete, holding no more interest to anyone than the next pile of rocks. Crossing the square, Zeke entered the building itself, Tyrin catching up to him.
"We're way out of position," he said.
"Relax," Zeke countered. "I know what I'm doing. And keep quiet, you'll give away our position."
Swiftly climbing the stairs, his soldier unable to tire, Zeke emerged on the roof of the structure, giving him a view directly across the maglev line and the skyscrapers opposite his position. Below, tanks and walkers exchanged fire in the streets while a pair of fighter aircraft tangled in the sky above. The constant drone of ordinance spread over the city, bouncing off the glass, steel, and concrete, a symphony of destruction. Moving to the edge of the building, Zeke rested the handguard of his rifle on the concrete lip, getting his eyes down behind the optic.
"Now what?" Tyrin asked in his ear.
"Now we kill everything before us," Zeke said.
A.C. Harrison
Like what you see here? Spread the word and support indie authors! Follow me on Facebook or Twitter.
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